The California Dream is in for severe testing as the population moves inland, along with smog and congestion. On Reporter's Notebook, test scores at a new low for the LAUSD, as Governor Schwarzenegger plans a year of education reform.

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The California Dream is in for severe testing as the population moves inland, along with smog and congestion. On Reporter's Notebook, test scores at a new low for the LAUSD, as Governor Schwarzenegger plans a year of education reform.

What used to be California's backwaters are outpacing LA and the San Francisco Bay Area. The Sacramento and San Joaquin Valleys and the Inland Empire are the fastest growing parts of the state. Driven mostly by the cost of housing, the population is moving east, along with smog and congestion. That the Riverside, Bakersfield, Fresno and Sacramento areas growing four times faster than the rest of the state poses many new challenges for California's future, according to a just-released study by the Brookings Institution. One major question is whether the new residents will have the political will to make better decisions than those that have shaped the places they're leaving behind.